When the men’s club soccer team began its 2008 season, it circled two dates on the schedule: Oct. 24-25 and Nov. 20-22. The dates represented the two most important tournaments of the year for the Ducks: regionals and nationals.
After winning five straight games en route to another regional title nearly one month ago, Oregon will now look to carry that momentum into its fourth-straight national tournament, which begins today in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“The great thing about this team is that nearly all of us have been to nationals and know what advancing entails,” senior team coordinator Nicholas Bickle-Eldridge said. “And the players that haven’t been on our team (before this season) have experienced high-caliber tournaments in their respective soccer careers.”
Oregon’s combination of excitement and composure will be the deciding factor in its overall success this weekend.
“The last thing we want is to allow ourselves to get complacent and not bring the right intensity,” he said.
The tournament, which is now in its 15th year of competition, is set up similarly to the regional tournament and the World Cup. The three-team pool play will begin today, followed by single-elimination match-ups later in the weekend for those who advance. Oregon will kick off its tournament with a 2 p.m. contest against Colorado State University, followed by an 8 p.m. game against Ohio State University.
Of the original 24 qualifying teams that will compete in pool play, only eight teams will advance. And the Ducks plan on being one of them.
“It’s going to be tough. To win we will play six games in three days against the highest competition in the nation,” Bickle-Eldridge said. “It’s going to be physically and mentally demanding.”
Since the Ducks 2-0 defeat of Cal in the 2005 NIRSA (National Intramural – Recreational Sports Association) National Championship game in Tuscaloosa, they have been close to repeating as champions but have come up just short each year. In 2006, Oregon suffered a tough 1-0 loss in the quarterfinals to the Indiana Hoosiers in Pensacola, Fla. That performance was followed up by a 2-1 quarterfinals loss at the hands of the University of Missouri in 2007 in Tempe, Ariz.
The Ducks are hoping that the trip back to the University of Alabama will be just what they need to have a chance at another national title, as well as to continue to earn the respect that the club team has come to deserve over the last several seasons.
“Nationals have been a good avenue to validate our team to people that scoff and say ‘Oh, it’s just a club sport,’” Bickle-Eldridge said.
“So in addition to playing to win the tournament, we are playing to keep the reputation this team has earned.”
The team departed late Tuesday night on a red-eye flight with high hopes.
“Our job is to come into whatever town, represent the University to our best ability and get things done – taking names in the process,” Bickle-Eldridge said.
The experienced 19-man team is one of the few player-coached squads, while most teams have two or three coaches whose job is to run the team.
Oregon does not see it as a disadvantage, however; it is seen more as a contributing factor in the team’s overall unity.
“We are 19 players, one team,” Bickle-Eldridge stated.
With several years of experience, a strong team bond and well-rounded talent, the men’s club soccer team could very well bring home the University’s first national title of this school year.
“There is nothing better than walking through airports, dining in restaurants or doing other things and being able to wear that lightning yellow on our chest,” Bickle-Eldridge said.
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